Big changes happening in technology at Felicity-Franklin schools

Felicity-Franklin Local School District officials have made great strides in bringing new technologies to students this year. A district-wide wifi network was installed by their new technology coordinator Charlie Marshall. Teachers and students are able to connect to the network on their tablets and laptops. All must register personal devices with Marshall. Filters are in place to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act.

Students currently are participating in an online safety curriculum, which covers cyberbullying, netiquette, identity theft, guarding personal information and scamming. Every student will complete the curriculum that includes age appropriate class discussions, online journaling and online lessons. There is a Parents' Guide to the Online Safety Program on www.felicityschools.org for more information.

School officials now has four wireless laptop carts for use by classes. The carts hold a total of 30 laptops each. They also have purchased 50 iPads and 32 Kindle Fires. Many of the teachers have received training to learn how to effectively use tablets in their classrooms. The wireless laptops and the tablets will be used for online assessments that are being developed the state of Ohio for the 2015 school year.

According to Felicity-Franklin Superintendent Glenn Moore, "This is the world our children live in. We recognized the need to increase access to technology for students. One of the learning tools for 21st century students is hand-held tablets."

Cost-saving measures also have taken place in technology. Most old CRT monitors have been replaced with more energy efficient LCD monitors. Thin clients and zero clients have been installed in two classrooms and both libraries. These client-driven or "virtual computers" replace the traditional box computers allowing for less expensive appliances that work directly from a server to replace the more costly computers. More thin and zero clients will be put in place as time and money allows. Teacher computers have been upgraded to better meet the needs of the teachers. Most of these improvements have come as a result of Title VIB - Rural and Low Income funds.

Communication with the community is also important to the district which uses technology available today to stay in touch. The district has a new web page using Blackboard Engage with a wealth of information that is easy to find. The district also has a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/fflsd) and uses Twitter (www.twitter.com/fflsd) to keep everyone up-to-date on what is happening in the district. Parents may access their students' grades through Edline. Call the school offices to obtain access codes.

Submitted by Nancy Montgomery, technical support special at Felicity-Franklin Local School District.

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Big changes happening in technology at Felicity-Franklin schools

Felicity-Franklin Local School District officials have made great strides in bringing new technologies to students this year. A district-wide wifi network was installed by their new technology